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At Sunset Boulevard and Alvarado Street in Echo Park, just past the American Apparel outlet and right behind the Burrito King, Tobias Jesso Jr. stands about 30 feet tall. His forlorn expression and tangly mop of brown hair dominate the street scene, and pedestrians are in the shadow of this new giant of contemporary songwriting. To be fair, Jesso is actually only 6 feet 7, and this is just a goofy billboard campaign tied to his new album, "Goon," which will be released Tuesday on True Panther Sounds. But it's also a sign of how quickly Jesso rose from an unknown 29-year-old session bassist into one of the year's most talked-about songwriting finds. If you're in...

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At Sunset Boulevard and Alvarado Street in Echo Park, just past the American Apparel outlet and right behind the Burrito King, Tobias Jesso Jr. stands about 30 feet tall.
His forlorn expression and tangly mop of brown hair dominate the street scene,...

Though its film and interactive portions have been cranking out news — and hype — for the better part of a week, the annual South by Southwest conference officially launches its music programming Tuesday, bringing more than 2,000 acts to Austin, Texas,...

She’s the Queen of Soul, the diva of all divas, a woman who could go by one name. Aretha Franklin brings her six-decade catalog classic hits to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace for one night on Friday, Aug. 14.
Franklin started as a gospel...

True to form, Kelly Clarkson minced no words in a phone call the other day from her home in Nashville.
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Another Oscars, another viral John Travolta moment. But unintentional it was not: The "Pulp Fiction" star's manhandling of singer Idina Menzel's face was indeed planned, even if it didn't come off that way.
The 61-year-old star's latest misstep...

With the 87th Academy Awards almost upon us, we look at some of the memorable moments that took place during the 86 previous shows — both onstage and off. Today's Oscars are a well-oiled machine — give or take a John Travolta-Adele Dazeem moment or two...

And the Oscar goes to ... social media! (Kind of.)
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Among the many rituals of Oscar week — the tuxedo fitting, the speech writing, the red carpet unfurling — perhaps the most coolly efficient is Oscar rehearsals.
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In the old days — say, five or six years ago — an Oscar party used to mean gathering with some friends around a TV and watching the show together with a bowl of chips and a few bottles of wine.
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The day after the Oscars last year, the show's producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron received a call from John Travolta apologizing for fumbling the name of singer Idina Menzel. Travolta's mispronunciation — Adele Dazeem — had become a trending topic on...

It's been nearly four years since "Ceremonials," Florence + the Machine's last album of regal, big-voiced pop. Now the project led by singer Florence Welch finally has finished a follow-up.
Her new LP, "How Big How Blue How...

"Stay With Me," Sam Smith’s stark soul ballad about an unrequited love, was named song of the year Sunday at the 57th Grammy Awards.
A songwriting prize, the Grammy went to Smith, James Napier and William Phillips. In its recorded form,...

Sam Smith had a breakout year in 2014, and he isn’t showing signs of slowing down. The British soul upstart won the record-of-the-year Grammy for his “Stay With Me,” besting the smash hit “Shake It Off” from Taylor Swift.
Though it’s steeped in soul...

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One of the first things Steve Barnett did when he took the helm at Capitol Records in 2012 was to pull down all the framed and platinum records that had long adorned the lobby of the landmark Capitol Tower offices in Hollywood. The cheap cardboard...

Like wars, movies about real, living people have a home front.
All is quiet on that front for Los Angeles attorney E. Randol Schoenberg, who starred in one of the great battles in art-law history, as he awaits the release of “Woman in Gold,” which...

While Adele has yet to offer any of her own music, she is turning us on to something new.
The British songstress used her Twitter for the first time this year to link a video from rising singer Tobias Jesso Jr.
“This is fantastic, click away” she...

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Renowned for years as a behind-the-scenes hitmaker, Mark Ronson clearly remembers the conversation about his potential solo career.
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There were many winners and many more losers on Oscar nominations morning, but there was only one person who managed to be both at the same time: "Mr. Turner" director of photography Dick Pope. Or, as academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs...